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u? MPH" DOWN MAIN u? may" DOWN mllli Patented 1360.10, 1889.

s. T, BUTTON;

APPARATUS I'OR LOOKING AND UNLOGKING POINTS, SIGNALS, &c.

(No Model.)

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2 Sheets-Sheet 2.

(No Model.)

s T DUTTON A APPARATUS FOR LOOKING AND UNLOGKING POINTS, SIGNALS, Gas.

Patented Dec. ;10, 1889.

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wzlhwws UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

SAMUEL TELFORD DUTTON, OF WORCESTER, COUNTY OF'VVORCESTER,

ENGLAND.

APPARATUS FOR LOCKING AND UNLOCKING POINTS, SIGNALS, dc.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 416,778, dated December10, 1889.

Application filed July 30, 1889. Serial No. 319,229. (No model.)Patented in England July 20, 1888, No. 10,531.

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, SAMUEL TELFORD DUTTON, civil engineer, a subject ofthe Queen of Great Britain, residing at. Marl Bank, in the city andcounty of Worcester, in England, have invented certain new and usefulImprovements in Looking and Unlocking Points and Signals and Detectingthe Position and Movement of Points on Railways,

:0 which improvements are also applicable to.

others skilled in the-art to which it appertains to make and use thesame.

My invention has for its object the locking and unlocking and detectingthe movements of points and signals of railways when such points aredistant from a station and are isolated and unconnected with each otherand not under the direct'manipulation of the signalman.

My invention consists in the'construction and arrangement hereinafterdescribed of the parts of mechanism whereby the separated points canonly be'locked and unlocked by the use of a prime master tappet or keyoperating on and influencing the action of a seriesof secondary tappetsin such a manner that the several points can only be locked and 3 5unlocked in the desired succession. The rod connected with each point isjointed to a flat bar having a sliding motion in a box or case fixedoutside the rails and near the points. The said bar has a notch near themiddle of 4.0 one of its sides. Crossing the said bar at right anglesare two sliding bolts working side by side and pressed inward by coiledsprings. bolts is turned up, the turned-up end of one bolt beingsituated on the notched side of the fiat bar, and'havinga form and shapesuit- *able for engaging in the notch in the side of the bar. Theturned-up end of the other slidingbolt is situated on the plain side ofthe sliding bar. The rear end of each bolt has The end of each ofthesesliding an incline, by pressure ori which the bolt is withdrawn andits. spring compressed. In the side of the box or case are two openingssituated, respectively, one on each side of the flat bar. "Theseopenings are of a size and shape suitable for the introduction into thesaid box of the tappets, hereinafter described. The tap ets and openingsin the box have such sizes and shapes that the said tappets can only beintroduced into the proper openings in the box. The tappets referred tocom sist of flat bars of suitable shape, having inclined surfaces orprojections on the sides or broad faces, besides the inclined surfacesor bevels on their edges to move the cross-bolts and notches for thepurpose of being locked in certain positions by the same. The fiat barwhich is connected with the points may be situated below the level ofthe tappets, and the inclines andgnotches on them may 7c be on one sideonly, and return inclines provided on the tappets and cross-bolts toinsure the movement of the latter when the tappets are withdrawn.

I will now describe my invention, reference being made for that purposeto the accompanying drawings.

Figure 1 is a diagram of three lines of railway, say an up and'downpassenger line and a siding. As the means for the'interchange oftraffic, and as affording a simple illustration for the application ofmy invention, I have shown a series of four pairs of points, forming athrough-road and a slip-crossing. The points marked a in the siding Iwill take as the first pair in the series. For a movement from thesiding to down main line the next pair of points would be d. It will bereadilyunderstood that the points marked a are intermediate points, andare normally go right for a traffic movement from the down main to theup main, or vice versa. These points 0 therefore only need to be shiftedfor g a traffic movement from the downmain to the siding, and for thispurpose should be moved by hand. For a movement in the oppositedirection they may or may not be worked, as, if they are weightedpoints, the

train will, as known in the art, make its own direction or forcethepoints open to pass mo through them, the points falling back to theirnormal position as soon as the last vehicle has cleared them. The points0 should not be used unless points a or d are worked. It will besufiicient, therefore, if, for the purpose of this description, I do notapply my invention to them. A loose key or master tappet say a issupposed to be atthe station, or in the signatbox, or in the care of theperson in authority. lVherever it is, so long as it is not in theinitial box of the series, it may be taken as a sign that the series ofpoints are locked and secured. Suppose, for example, the levers workingthe conflicting or block signals are concentrated in a signalbox. Thenthe master-key or tappet a is normally attached to these levers in sucha manner that it can only be withdrawn for the purpose of unlocking anypair of points in a series after having looked all the conflictingsignallevers in their danger position. Should, however, the conflictingsignals not be worked by levers concentrated in asuitable spot, then themaster key or tappet would be normally on the signal-post of anyconflicting signal, and, by suitable mechanism known in the art, itcould only be withdrawn after looking that signal in the dangerposition. In this instance it might be necessary to take thismaster-tappet and go through a similar performance upon anotherconflicting signal, locking that in the danger position before thesecondary tappet or key withdrawable from that signal could be insertedin the first lockingbox of the series of points that is required to beopened or released, It will be sufficient, however, to suppose that thelevers working the conflicting signals e e e e are concentrated on theplatform at F, and that the master tappet or key a is normally insertedin suitable connection with the said conflicting signal-levers, so thatbefore it can be withdrawn all the said signal-levers must be locked atdanger.. hen the tappet a is withdrawn from F and inserted in the box alocated at a, it releases another tappet a in the said box, and thewithdrawal of the said tappet a from the box releases the blade g,connected to the switch-points. The switchpoints at (Z are normallylocked and can only be released by the withdrawal of areleasingtappetfrom box a located at a or b. I will describe the unlocking for amovement from the siding to the down main. Therefore thereleasing-tappet frpm the box a at a is inserted in the similar box atd, thereby unlocking the blade connected to the switch-points drawn.

and allowing the points to be worked. hen the releasing-tappet a fromthe box a was withdrawn, it back-locked the 1naster-tappet a in the box,so that it could not be with- The reverse action is that theswitchpoints at d must be replaced normal, allowing the tappet a to bewithdrawn from the box,

this action locking the said switch-points in their normal position. Thesaid switch-points at a are now replaced normal, the tappet a reinsertedin the box, this action locking the said switch-points in their normalposition and taking the back-lock off the master-tappet a, thus allowingit to be withdrawn, which act of withdrawal again locks the tap pet a?in the said box, effectually preventing its withdrawal. The master keyor tappet a is now inserted in its position at F, so that. the mainsectional signals can be worked, the working of any one of which looksthe master key or tappet in position, thereby indirectly locking thewhole series of points.

Fig. 2 is simply a repetition of Fig. 1, intended to show theswitch-points unlocked, with tappets inserted, allowing the movementfrom the siding to the down main previously referred to.

Fig. 3 isa perspective sketch showing the method of connecting myapparatus between the switch-points and their actuating groundlever. Inthis figure, g is the blade intermediate between the switch-points andtheir lever, and a is the tappet to be withdrawn before theswitch-points are free to be moved. a is the box containing theapparatus. a is. the space for the insertion of the master key or tappeta.

Fig. 4 is an enlarged view of my locking apparatus shown in Fig. 3. Inthis figure, g is the tappet or blade connected to the switchpoints. gis a square notch into which takes, in the normal condition of theapparatus, as shown, a raised projection f on a cross-bolt f, the saidcross-bolt f being held in the position shown for locking the blade 9 atthe notch g by the tappet or key a oifering a straight surface to theraised portion f of the cross-bolt f. It will be observed that thetappet or key a is itself held locked. in a somewhat similar manner bythe raised piece h of the cross-bolt h being inserted in the notch a ofthe tappet a A' coiled springt is provided toprevent the cross-bolt hfrom moving out of the notch a through vibration or other cause.

Fig. 5 is the cross-section at :c y of Fig. 4, in elevation, with thesolid or hollow part in elevation, as the case may be, taken away toallow a better view of the bolt f and spring Fig. 6 is a side view ofthe master tappet or key a, showing the projecting bevel a Fig. 7 showsthe master key or tappet a inserted and the tappet a free. The action ofinserting this master tappet or key a is as follows: The projectingbevel a acting against the bevel h of the raised block h onthecross-bolt h, travels through the incline between 71 and h, therebycompressing the spring '2' and withdrawing the bolt h from the notch aof tappet a causing it to be free.

Fig. 8 is a view showing the secondary tappet a in its turn withdrawn?The result is as follows: Inthe act of withdrawal the projecting bevela, in traveling through the inclined recessed passage between f and fforces the cross-bolt f so that the raised portion leaves the notch gand enters the square notch a of master-tappet a, thereby backlockingthat tappet or key and preventing its Withdrawal. The springt' maintainsthe lock f in the notch a The blade g is therefore free, andconsequently the points also. The tappet or key a is taken to the nextlock of the series, and performs there duties analogous to a, in the boxdescribed.

Fig. 10 shows one method of applying my invention in the signal-box. Inthis figure, a is the tappet, and is shown. locked. by the bevel-lock Zbeing'inserted in the notch 0, The tappet k is connected to the lever inthe locking apparatus, working the conflicting signal, which signal issupposed to have been Worked to the safety attitude, thereby locking themaster-tappet, as described. \Vhen, however, the signal-lever isreplaced normal, the tappet it is moved in the direction of the arrow,so that the notch 70 moves in front of the lock Z and the square notch kin front of the raised piece m of the cross-boltm. Now, when the tappet0. is Withdrawn upward, the lock Z is forced into the notch k and theprojecting bevel a, traveling through the re cessed incline between mand m, forces the bolt in toward the tappet It, so that the raised piecem enters the square notch 10 The spring 7: retains the lock m in thenotch k Fig. 9 is a plan on top of the apparatus in Fig. 10, and Fig. 11is a sectional plan through 0 P of Fig. 10. In cases Where a series ofpoints are to be locked they may, when desired, be operated upon ingroups only, instead of in a series from beginning to end. For example,when there are six in the series it may be desirable to be able tooperate on the last four or upon the last twowithout operating on thefirst two or the first four. To effect this, the prime or master tappetmay have connected to it, by joints or otherwise, two supplementarytappets, one of which is of a shape suitable for unlocking .the thirdpoint of the series, and consequently permitting of the unlocking of thesucceeding ones. The other supplementary tappet may be of a shapesuitable for unlocking the fifth point, and

consequently permitting-the unlocking of the last. This modification isapplicable to any number of points.

My said invention may be applied to the locking and unlocking ofstop-blocks, gates, turn-tables, and other moving parts of railways andthings appertaining to railways.

What I claim is V 1. The combination, with a blade for operating thepoints of a spring-pressed cross-bolt normally locking said blade, atappet adapted to operate the cross-bolt, a second cross-bolt normallylocking said tappet, and a mastertappet adapted to operate the secondcrossbolt, thereby unlocking said tappet and permitting it to be movedto unlock the said blade and lock the said master-tappet, substantiallyas set forth.

2. The combination, with a series of similar point-locking devices, eachconsisting of a blade for operating the points, a springpressedcross-bolt normally locking said blade, a tappet adapted to operate thecross-bolt, and a second cross-bolt normally locking said tappet, of amaster-tappet adapted to operate the second cross-bolt of one of thesaid tappet and permitting it to be moved to unturn to become locked,substantially as set forth. 3. The combination, with a blade, such as k,for operating the points of a signal, of a spring pressed cross -boltnormally locking saidxblade, a tappet adapted to operate the crosskboltand release said blade, and a sec:

ond cross-bolt or look, such as 1, adapted to be moved to lock andrelease said tappet.

. SAMUEL .TELFORD DUTTON.

Witnesses:

JOHN P. ODONNELL, ALFRED DONNISON.

